Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun

The man all dressed in red in Section 116 turned to the woman in red and said: “See you next year.”

“I guess,” she said.

“I guess,” he repeated.

They said goodbye, wished each other well, and neither of them, strangers in life, Raptors fans, moved towards the stairs.

It was still too soon. It was still too fresh and disappointing. So much of the Air Canada Centre crowd, silent after all the noise, with one last half-hearted chant of “Ref, you suck!” stood, not moving, not knowing what to say, where to go, what to feel, how to digest what almost happened and what didn’t.

All in the blink of an eye.

Kyle Lowry’s last-second shot to win Game 7a and win an historical and hysterical Eastern Conference playoff series never got to the basket. Paul Pierce, the shooter, the scorer, the future Hall of Fame member, blocked it. Lowry crashed to the court, not wanting to get up, with DeMar DeRozan draped all over him, as Jason Kidd, another headi